A regular poster recently commented that the visa overstay fee seems to have been set 500 baht for decades with no increases that he or I could remember.

Thailand seems to have inflation running at around 2 to 3 percent yet the prices of some items seem to be little changed to me from when I first visited back in the 80's.

On my first trip 25 years ago ( ), beer was 35 baht, smokes 15, a bungalow was 300, dinner was about 20-30 baht (Patong), Honey hotel was about 700 baht.

For those of you with a still functioning long term recall, have prices of basic staples and common items increased over the decades as much as you would expect?

It is still very cheap for those willing to stay in a clean room with bath or a house with few mod cons and eat in inexpensive Thai places, but there are way more good foreign restaurants, imported food and luxuries than when I first got here and they are tempting and not cheap.

You can still vacation or live here for far less than the West, but you might have to do without some things that you would miss.

It is still very cheap for those willing to stay in a clean room with bath or a house with few mod cons and eat in inexpensive Thai places, but there are way more good foreign restaurants, imported food and luxuries than when I first got here and they are tempting and not cheap.

You can still vacation or live here for far less than the West, but you might have to do without some things that you would miss.

Well said, UG.

For those of us that have taken to the family life [sorta speak] and all the trimmings, the general cost of living hasn't increase all the great. This being said....all situations, needs, and lifestyles will vary from one to the next.

But the base has seen little gain over several years - could be worse. Some parts of the world have seen substantial increases [insanely] in their respective costs of living.

In the ten years I have been coming here

Golf has gone up quite considerably

Beer is same same,

Food seems same same, but portions are a lot smaller

Gasoline was 14 baht

Yup, Ulysses said it.

I could also add that the simple life can be really cheap. But when you have a family, kids, want to drive a car and so on then many of those costs will be the same or higher than in the West. So that's not so much a case of 'LOS getting more expensive', but rather you as a person evolving to a more typical Western lifestyle, which costs.

And then there's exchange rates of course; those should not be confused with 'LOS getting more expensive', but to many people who get their money from abroad, it has a similar effect.

With house and car taken care of ( paid off ) and excluding thing like hobbies, i.e golf, holidays or splurge spending, what would you estimate your monthly spend at for (thai) food, power/water, insurance, beer etc? Please indicate if you are rural and farm or at least garden for your own consumption.

Yup, Ulysses said it.

I could also add that the simple life can be really cheap. But when you have a family, kids, want to drive a car and so on then many of those costs will be the same or higher than in the West. So that's not so much a case of 'LOS getting more expensive', but rather you as a person evolving to a more typical Western lifestyle, which costs.

And then there's exchange rates of course; those should not be confused with 'LOS getting more expensive', but to many people who get their money from abroad, it has a similar effect.

A better measuring gauge would be to ask the average Thai [country or city mouse] who makes and spends Baht, if their reasonable cost of living has changed dramatically or not.

I guess most of you suffer from accute memory loss.

Food prices have risen an average 20-25% only in the past 4 months,and you think that there were no price rises previously.

Overstay hasn't been 500 Baht for decades,it comes from 200 Baht.

A bottled beer at a gogo bar in walking street used to be 75 baht,try to find one now below 125 Baht.

A bag of rice has at least trippled,but I assume it's more, over the past decade,this is grown incountry.

Chicken,beef and pork have more than doubled over the past decade.

Gasoline was 9 Baht when I came here 17 years ago and ciggies were 12 Baht.

A large bottle of coke in the supermarket was 17 Baht regular price even not so long ago.

Of course they try to hide the price increases by first making the items smaller,milk boxes for example were always 250 cc but now they are 230 or even 180 cc.After that they start to rise the price,but by that time it has risen several time already in a disguised way.

Of course in the Western world the prices rice out of the pan for sure,but I was surprised that when I took a bag of rice for my mom with me on my last trip,that I could buy it cheaper in the supermarket in Europe than what I paid here.

Edited January 29, 201214 yr by janverbeem

Please indicate if you are rural and farm or at least garden for your own consumption.

Yep. A percentage of self-sufficiency for family consumption can be a worthy consideration.

Perhaps some things that the city folk in their compact blocked-buildings wouldn't have access to.

Have noticed that within the last couple of years that the price of noodle soup seems to have gone up from 30->35bt. Thats more than a 12% increase! But then worold food prices have shot up.

bbq pork om a stick is still 5bt, but as was pointed out the size has gotten smaller!

Have noticed that within the last couple of years that the price of noodle soup seems to have gone up from 30->35bt. Thats more than a 12% increase! But then worold food prices have shot up.

bbq pork om a stick is still 5bt, but as was pointed out the size has gotten smaller!

Now keep in mind that a noodle soup used to be 15 Baht in the tourist centers.

Have noticed that within the last couple of years that the price of noodle soup seems to have gone up from 30->35bt. Thats more than a 12% increase! But then worold food prices have shot up.

bbq pork om a stick is still 5bt, but as was pointed out the size has gotten smaller!

Now keep in mind that a noodle soup used to be 15 Baht in the tourist centers.

Yes, but whom mingles amongst the tourist centres except tourist...??

Have noticed that within the last couple of years that the price of noodle soup seems to have gone up from 30->35bt. Thats more than a 12% increase! But then worold food prices have shot up.

bbq pork om a stick is still 5bt, but as was pointed out the size has gotten smaller!

Now keep in mind that a noodle soup used to be 15 Baht in the tourist centers.

Yes, but whom mingles amongst the tourist centres except tourist...??

So you are suggesting that it was a higher price outside the tourist centers?

Oh Yes.

Sometime in 1979 I made a trip to Phuket with my Thai girlfriend.

Now that I think about it that was close to Loy Kathong that year...so I guess November 1979.

We stayed at a beach...can't remember exactly where now...but there were small wooden huts right on the beach that cost 150 baht per night. No air-conditioning and no electricity after about 6 p.m. anyhow. Didn't need it though, because there was always a breeze off the sea at night.

About 50 meters away, on the road that went past the beach, there was a small Thai seafood restaurant. Every day about 1 p.m. the local Thai fishermen would pull the boats up to the beach...and the owners of that restaurant would buy fish, crabs, prawns, and shrimp from those fishermen. They would clean them and fire up the charcoal for barbeque to grill them.

Crabs were 100 each, Prawns were a high priced item at 300, Shrimp 150 each. Oh no, that's NOT baht, that's Satang. Can't remember the fish prices, but they were similar. A large bottle of Kloster beer was expensive at 30 baht. Bowls of steamed rice were of course free...who would even consider paying for a bowl of steamed rice anyhow?

Can't remember the exact bill for that meal...but i do remember that I had a large Kloster beer (ice-cold of course) and my Thai girlfriend had a Coke. At 30 baht for the beer and 15 baht for the Coke...they were the most expensive items on the bill. We had 3 grilled fish, 3 prawns each, 2 shrimp each, and of course as many bowls of free rice as we wanted.

But that was a LONG time ago.

Last time I heard of that beach there was a hotel for farang tourists on it...or at least near it...where the tourists payed over $100 a night for a room.

And no free bowls of rice anywhere.

P.S, When I said Prawns I meant those large Tiger Prawns of course.

Edited January 29, 201214 yr by IMA_FARANG

a bag of papaya's was 50 baht a few weeks ago.. now its 450baht.

Have noticed that within the last couple of years that the price of noodle soup seems to have gone up from 30->35bt. Thats more than a 12% increase! But then worold food prices have shot up.

bbq pork om a stick is still 5bt, but as was pointed out the size has gotten smaller!

Now keep in mind that a noodle soup used to be 15 Baht in the tourist centers.

Yes, but whom mingles amongst the tourist centres except tourist...??

"Expats" in CM

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A better measuring gauge would be to ask the average Thai [country or city mouse] who makes and spends Baht, if their reasonable cost of living has changed dramatically or not.

I would guess that wages for a typical Thai have doubled or tripled since I got here - at least in the big ciities.

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A strong Baht makes imports cheaper. Around 20% since about 2 years ago.

Instead of lowering prices, importers and shops just cash in the gain. But you can be sure, once the Baht will weaken again, that would be reason enough to raise prices.

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A strong Baht makes imports cheaper. Around 20% since about 2 years ago.

Instead of lowering prices, importers and shops just cash in the gain. But you can be sure, once the Baht will weaken again, that would be reason enough to raise prices.

What do you figure the true value of the Bhat to be?

What do you figure the value of the bhat to be when the USD crashes?

Edited January 29, 201214 yr by TheKeeNok

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A strong Baht makes imports cheaper. Around 20% since about 2 years ago.

Instead of lowering prices, importers and shops just cash in the gain. But you can be sure, once the Baht will weaken again, that would be reason enough to raise prices.

What do you figure the true value of the Bhat to be?

What do you figure the value of the bhat to be when the USD crashes?

Needn't be too concern for the Baht when the US dollar collapses, for by then the Chinese Yuan will have secured it's place as the [largely] principle exchange rate standard. These events will be more advantageous to Asian currencies on the world's market than not.

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A strong Baht makes imports cheaper. Around 20% since about 2 years ago.

Instead of lowering prices, importers and shops just cash in the gain. But you can be sure, once the Baht will weaken again, that would be reason enough to raise prices.

What do you figure the true value of the Bhat to be?

What do you figure the value of the bhat to be when the USD crashes?

Needn't be too concern for the Baht when the US dollar collapses, for by then the Chinese Yuan will have secured it's place as the [largely] principle exchange rate standard. These events will be more advantageous to Asian currencies on the world's market than not.

Shall I bring all my $$$ and convert them into bhat?

Would really hate to see the Yuan be the new reseve currency. China at the helm? shudder...

www.chinacrapwatch.com SHAMELESS!

\

FREE TIBET!!!!

What do you figure the true value of the Bhat to be?

Probably around 50 to the EUR. Of course this doesn't address the relative value of the EUR and the GBP, which is also way out of line.

Some prices have gone up, some have gone down, some have stayed the same. The main problem in Thailand is that the Baht is overvalued, which makes many things cost more here than they would in Europe, and that is just plain silly.

A strong Baht makes imports cheaper. Around 20% since about 2 years ago.

Instead of lowering prices, importers and shops just cash in the gain. But you can be sure, once the Baht will weaken again, that would be reason enough to raise prices.

What do you figure the true value of the Bhat to be?

What do you figure the value of the bhat to be when the USD crashes?

Needn't be too concern for the Baht when the US dollar collapses, for by then the Chinese Yuan will have secured it's place as the [largely] principle exchange rate standard. These events will be more advantageous to Asian currencies on the world's market than not.

Don't worry about the Yuan,the Chinese bubble will probably burst before mid this year.

a bag of papaya's was 50 baht a few weeks ago.. now its 450baht.

haha

A regular poster recently commented that the visa overstay fee seems to have been set 500 baht for decades with no increases that he or I could remember

You both have very bad memories as it was 200 Baht less than a decade ago.

Beer has gone up in price.

Golf costs the same as when I first started playing about 12 years ago if you go on sports days.

Food prices have increased.

Petrol has increased dramatically which of course has a knock on affect of increasing the price of anything that has to be transported.

Please tell me a country where prices do not go up. Of course it is more expensive here than it use to be, but one can live very cheaply compared to the West - if one is willing to compromise on less comfortable lodging is careful about buying too many imported foods.

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by Ulysses G.

new condo prices are getting silly. looked at a low rise off the plan condo resort style in Jomitean and they asking 75,000bht/sqm

I paid that for my condo near a bts lower sukhumvit BKK , only 5 years ago!

I find it laughable that people are complaining that prices have gone up in the last decade. Of course they have - that's what prices do, unless you're in an extended depression such as that which has hit Japan for the last decade or more.

Similarly, incomes would have gone up too.

As Ulysses rightly says, it's happened all over the world and it's perfectly natural. That most of the expats get their incomes from overseas and that the Baht is one of the strongest currencies over that last 5-8 years is why people are griping. Tough luck - it's one of the unintended risks of living in one country and deriving income from another.

As for people saying exchange rates are 'silly' or out of synch and that the natural rate for the Baht is 50 Euros or whatever, utter dross. The baht is at its natural rate now; by definition, it has to be because the market is dictating it. Expats themselves contribute to this, by buying baht using currency from their originating country.

There is nothing more natural in the world.